Today, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah will visit Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. During his visit, Administrator Shah will meet with Ethiopian Minister of Health Dr. Kesetebirhan Admassu to discuss the upcoming international meeting “African Leadership on Child Survival—A Promise Renewed,” set to take place January 16-18, 2013 in Addis Ababa.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through its Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) Science program, announced today the award of nearly $500,000 in competitive grant funding to support two research projects in India and one in Mexico.

The U.S. Department of State announced that its Rewards for Justice program has authorized rewards of up to $5 million each for information leading to the capture of Abdelbasit Alhaj Alhasan Haj Hamad and Mohamed Makawi Ibrahim Mohamed; two of five individuals convicted in Sudan for the January 1, 2008 murders in Khartoum of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) diplomat John Granville and USAID employee Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama.

The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), on Wednesday began a new project in partnership with the Ministry of Education to improve the reading and math skills of thousands of primary school students in Senegal. The Partnership to Improve Elementary Reading and Math will work directly with the Ministry as well as other partners including the World Bank, the Global Partnership for Education, and additional bilateral donors France, Canada, and Japan.

The Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are pleased to announce the publication of the implementation schedule for the U.S. Government’s commitment to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) and the posting of initial data on U.S. Government foreign assistance in IATI’s common data standard, now available for download in XML format from the Foreign Assistance Dashboard (www.foreignassistance.gov).

Award to fund Xcelerator training among USAID Grantees, turning ideas into sustainable solutions that improve the lives of expectant mothers and newborns

At the Grand Challenges meeting in Ottawa, Canada, Wendy Taylor, Director, Center for Accelerating Innovation and Impact at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Carol Dahl, Executive Director of The Lemelson Foundation, announced a partnership between USAID and The Lemelson Foundation to award more than $700,000 to the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA). The Foundation and USAID will each contribute $352,000 toward this effort. The funds will be used to enable USAID’s Saving Lives at Birth grantees the ability to avoid common pitfalls in scaling, helping them accelerate their ideas and inventions into sustainable solutions that will impact on the world’s poorest populations.

Thirty percent of the world’s children do not reach their developmental potential due to poverty, disease, conflict and disaster

Today at the White House, the U.S. Government released its first-ever Action Plan on Children in Adversity. The Plan is grounded in evidence that shows a promising future belongs to those nations that invest wisely in their children, while failure to do so undermines social and economic progress. According to the Plan, “Child development is a cornerstone for all development, and it is central to U.S. development and diplomatic efforts.”

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in partnership with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and leading network operator Millicom International Cellular S.A., are pleased to launch an innovative project to bring mobile financial services to women entrepreneurs throughout Tanzania, Rwanda and Ghana.

USAID’s Development Credit Authority (DCA) worked with 45 financial institutions in 23 countries in 2012 to unlock up to $525 million in private capital for underserved entrepreneurs in developing countries. The financing, made available through 34 partial credit guarantees, is the most USAID has mobilized in a single year.

On December 19 at the White House South Court Auditorium, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) along with representatives from seven government agencies and departments will launch the first-ever, whole-of-government strategic guidance on international assistance for children in adversity.

From December 10-12, Alex Thier, Assistant to the Administrator and Director of the Office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), traveled to Pakistan to visit USAID projects and meet with leaders from the Pakistani government, civil society, private sector, and international community.

From December 12-18, Donald Steinberg, deputy administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), will travel with Assistant Administrator Mark Feierstein to Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico to visit USAID projects, announce new initiatives, and meet with government officials, civil society, and USAID partners.

Donors can play a crucial role in strengthening the ability of civil society organizations (CSOs) across Africa to organize, advocate, raise awareness, act as watchdogs, and provide vital services. However, the ability of CSOs to make a true impact depends not only upon their own organizational capacity and financial viability, but also upon such external factors as the legal environment in which they operate and the infrastructure supporting them.

On December 10, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Program on America and the Global Economy will co-host a panel discussion on Secretary Clinton’s Economic Statecraft agenda at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah will make opening remarks at the inter-agency panel that will focus on, “Economic Statecraft: Developing Partnerships with the Private Sector.”

Today, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) launched Making All Voices Count: A Grand Challenge for Development, a unique multi-donor partnership to support innovative, next-generation solutions that use web and mobile technology to grow the global movement for open government, transparency and accountability.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), together with the World Wildlife Fund – U.S. (WWF), is launching a unique four-year water security and sustainable development project across Asia in which snow leopard conservation plays a key role.

On December 5, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will host a unique event with leaders from across government, civil-society, and the technology sector to unveil Making All Voices Count (MAVC): A Grand Challenge for Development - a unique multi-donor partnership to support innovative solutions using web and mobile technology to grow the global movement for open government, transparency and accountability.

Today, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Rajiv Shah announced the launch of the Agency’s first-ever policy and program guidance on Building Resilience to Recurrent Crisis during an event in Washington DC. Dr. Shah was joined by a distinguished panel of guests, including His Excellency Ambassador Elkanah Odembo, Kenyan Ambassador to the United States; The Honorable Jim McGovern (D-MA); Gayle Smith, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director at the National Security Council; David Beckmann, President of Bread for the World; Neal Keny-Guyer, CEO of Mercy Corps; and Carolyn Woo, President & CEO of Catholic Relief Services.

Today, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the European Union (EU) to support implementation of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KP), which combats the trade in conflict diamonds. The MoU signifies the desire of USAID and the EU to collaborate and co-fund the implementation of USAID’s Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development (PRADD) program, which aims to assist countries with strengthening their compliance with the KP.

Today, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KP), which was established to end the trafficking of “conflict diamonds,” adopted the Washington Declaration that more formally incorporates development objectives into KP implementation.